Among the many lessons that the holy month of Ramadhan teaches is moderation. The spirit of moderation should be seen in everything even in breaking the fast.
Some people, however, fail to observe the value of moderation while eating post-iftar. They tend to eat whatever comes their way and keep on eating irrespective of their body conditions.
The practice of overeating or feasting over fasting can cause health hazards, as this habit of overeating soon after nearly 15 hours of fast can overwhelm the body system.
Doctors and dieticians say what we consume directly affects our health and health is the key to happiness, hence commands paramount importance to be taken care.
Hospitals often see an influx of patients with gastrointestinal ailments most commonly abdominal pain immediately after Ramadhan due to overeating. The best way to prevent any such illness is to plan the iftar meal in advance and make sure that it is light, coupled with fluids to keep you hydrated and energised.
"The holy month of Ramadhan is a great opportunity for us to focus on striking a perfect balance between our intake of calories, vitamins, water intake and the like. One advantage of fasting for nearly 15 hours is that it fetches in a multitude of benefits both mentally and physically," says Mini Padikkal, Clinical Dietician at NMC.
"By and large, our metabolic function slows down during fasting and dietary fat is utilised during this period. The body has regulatory mechanisms that activate during fasting. Any food overeaten will jeopardise the function and will lead to problems in due course. Instead, a diet that has less than a normal amount of food but is sufficiently balanced will keep a person healthy and active during the month of Ramadhan," says Dr Khalifa al Riyami, a Physiologist with a leading hospital.
Fasting in Ramadhan for a month changes many things and the body adapts to these changes like maintaining glucose levels for more than 12 hours during fasting, where body stores are utilised, changes in the digestive system occur, and similarly, neurogenic changes happen.
"Post-iftar food usually contains high sugar and oil, which can cause sudden changes in the body again, as it had adapted to the fasting state leading to sudden surge rise in sugar levels, cholesterol from fatty food," says Dr Dilip Singhvi, Specialist Internal Medicine at Shifa Hospital.
He says people can have many symptoms after overeating. "They include, but not limited to abdominal symptoms like nausea vomiting, abdominal fullness, headaches and constipation, causing gastritis, there will swing in the blood sugar levels and they will rise suddenly causing problems in diabetic patients, heart patients may have chest pains or shortness of breath," he says.
"Therefore, it's advised to take slowly and a small portion of food with high fibre, low sugar like fruits, salads vegetables and gradually increase the quantity of food intake and the amount of sugar, starch, oily food intake over a period of a couple of days so that the body gets time to adapt to the new schedule and not to overload the system suddenly," adds Dr Singhvi.
Fasting during Ramadhan can be good for one’s health and personal development. However, one would likely reap in the benefits of fasting if he or she can focus on good hydration, taking in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and protein foods like fish, lean meat, nuts and low-fat foods as the main source of energy for those fasting.
"Consuming large quantities of food or an unbalanced diet after the fast can lead to stomach and intestinal disorders that may worsen normal health or any existing medical condition. Especially, people with diabetes who take part in fast there are potential benefits and possible risks of hypo- and hyperglycaemia," says Dr Viresh Chopra.
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Recommendations to avoid ill-health
• Drink as much water as possible between iftar and sleeping time
• Avoid salty foods during iftar and suhoor meals
• Avoid caffeinated drinks such as coffee or tea
• Avoid heavy fatty foods
• Avoid refined carbohydrates and sugar
• For the suhoor meal, it is advisable to eat proteins, oils and complex carbohydrates
• Break your fast with a simple meal
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